Looking for Sulfides

[GoldReport]

Hello esteemed members of the board.

In my local area there are no commercial gold mines and never really have been. Through research, I came across an old State Geologist Report from the late 1800s. In it they mention that some gold was found alongside pyrite. At the time it was not of a high enough concentration that they were interested in it, but it has got me searching for this elusive deposit. I am located in the Northeast US where there is virtually no lode gold deposits to speak of. ( hardly any placer either )

I went out searching today to see if I could find this pyrite, I used a combination of the report I found with geologic maps to identify the units in question. The report describes the pyrite found at the contact of two distinct geologic units which only crop out in a few places that I have so far found. My first instinct is to locate places where streams have cut through this geologic contact and pan samples downstream of that. I would have done that today but underestimated how big of a drop I was facing and ran out of sunlight before I could find a good place in the stream where any material could build up. I was at the top of a series of short but steep water falls and only made it down about halfway before dusk started to set in.

The question I have for you all today: is there is a good way to locate sulfides/pyrite in the ground other than just visual examination?

The rock around here is quite mossy and full of lichen. I suppose I could take my wire brush and clean off any outcrops I suspect would be good but that seems inefficient and time consuming. While hiking today I saw samples on the ground with good iron staining (in a shale rock which doesn't seem quite normal to me) but seeing iron staining around here doesn't make me feel any better as there is considerable magnetite all over, I live within 5 miles of a handful of old workings.

Any tips?

I plan to keep searching but am not extremely confident for a couple reasons: around the time of this geologist report there were many scams of people finding gold so the information is unreliable at best, and if there was any decent gold to be found I think someone would have already done so given the lack of other gold deposits. I don't have a metal detector and it's not in the budget to buy one at the moment.

Will update as the hunt continues...
Thanks!

 

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[Assembler]

Hello esteemed members of the board.

In my local area there are no commercial gold mines and never really have been. Through research, I came across an old State Geologist Report from the late 1800s. In it they mention that some gold was found alongside pyrite. At the time it was not of a high enough concentration that they were interested in it, but it has got me searching for this elusive deposit. I am located in the Northeast US where there is virtually no lode gold deposits to speak of. ( hardly any placer either )

I went out searching today to see if I could find this pyrite, I used a combination of the report I found with geologic maps to identify the units in question. The report describes the pyrite found at the contact of two distinct geologic units which only crop out in a few places that I have so far found. My first instinct is to locate places where streams have cut through this geologic contact and pan samples downstream of that. I would have done that today but underestimated how big of a drop I was facing and ran out of sunlight before I could find a good place in the stream where any material could build up. I was at the top of a series of short but steep water falls and only made it down about halfway before dusk started to set in.

The question I have for you all today: is there is a good way to locate sulfides/pyrite in the ground other than just visual examination?

The rock around here is quite mossy and full of lichen. I suppose I could take my wire brush and clean off any outcrops I suspect would be good but that seems inefficient and time consuming. While hiking today I saw samples on the ground with good iron staining (in a shale rock which doesn't seem quite normal to me) but seeing iron staining around here doesn't make me feel any better as there is considerable magnetite all over, I live within 5 miles of a handful of old workings.

Any tips?

I plan to keep searching but am not extremely confident for a couple reasons: around the time of this geologist report there were many scams of people finding gold so the information is unreliable at best, and if there was any decent gold to be found I think someone would have already done so given the lack of other gold deposits. I don't have a metal detector and it's not in the budget to buy one at the moment.

Will update as the hunt continues...
Thanks!

Well this may not be the best answer however beside using your eyes one can use a electric conductance type of test to see how far the pyrites go through a given rock. In short a electric path test with low voltages.
The second method that may work is a metal detector may signal on some of the rock. You will have to test to find out in your area.

Tip if you can reduce the amount of rock to crush when you break rock down to smaller sizes will help reduce how much to process is my 2 cents here.

 

[GoldReport]

When you say electric conductance you mean putting an electric load on a sample then measuring that drop in voltage? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, just not something I've done before.

Would be good to have something I can take with me in the field so I can find some samples that might be worth taking home.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Assembler]

When you say electric conductance you mean putting an electric load on a sample then measuring that drop in voltage? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, just not something I've done before.

Would be good to have something I can take with me in the field so I can find some samples that might be worth taking home.

Thanks for your input!

Continuity test from one side of the rock to the other side with test leads testing how far the pyrites and gold metal path goes is the simple test using low voltages.

Conductance will help show the best path of resistance likely the better path to follow.

 

[GoldReport]

Continuity test from one side of the rock to the other side with test leads testing how far the pyrites and gold metal path goes is the simple test using low voltages.

Conductance will help show the best path of resistance likely the better path to follow.

I will take my multimeter then next time I go out! Never thought to use that but makes a ton of sense.

 

[Assembler]

I will take my multimeter then next time I go out! Never thought to use that but makes a ton of sense.

Yep and the better the conductance is the more likely there is some gold involved with that given electrical path to give a better signal. Some two box types of detectors can be hooked up with wire leads and used this way for a test path.

Just finding out if there is continuity from one side to the other will answer a lot of questions and is simple to do.

The important test is to crush and pan the minerals in question to see what may be there.

 

[russau]

On doing a conductivity test ,, set up a test plot of a known gold bearing sample and a chunk of ole rock (NO GOLD), and some dry sand /rock with a known amount of fine gold and a set amount of wet sand with the known amount of fine gold PLUS a dry and or wet sand that is baren of any gold !how about driving two copper rods into the ground and measure from each rod on the DC scale and write down the values you record as doing this test and compare the new recorded values as you test the ground and or rocks . KEEP these test values & your new test values in a tablet so you can refer back to it ! As you know gold is heavy and will sink to it's lowest point as time go's by ,so I'm now sure how deep you need to sink that copper rod . I hope your bedrock isn't to deep ! when searching shallow surface's I assume you wouldn't need to drive that rod deep ......... I hope this will help you ! Please post your result's !

 

[GoldReport]

On doing a conductivity test ,, set up a test plot of a known gold bearing sample and a chunk of ole rock (NO GOLD), and some dry sand /rock with a known amount of fine gold and a set amount of wet sand with the known amount of fine gold PLUS a dry and or wet sand that is baren of any gold !how about driving two copper rods into the ground and measure from each rod on the DC scale and write down the values you record as doing this test and compare the new recorded values as you test the ground and or rocks . KEEP these test values & your new test values in a tablet so you can refer back to it ! As you know gold is heavy and will sink to it's lowest point as time go's by ,so I'm now sure how deep you need to sink that copper rod . I hope your bedrock isn't to deep ! when searching shallow surface's I assume you wouldn't need to drive that rod deep ......... I hope this will help you ! Please post your result's !

Wow thank you for the response! What I'm trying to do is locate sulfide minerals on the surface of bedrock where it outcrops. The challenge for me is that the rock is quite mossy around here and so visually locating these minerals is not always possible without taking the wire brush to the rock.

 

[Assembler]

Wow thank you for the response! What I'm trying to do is locate sulfide minerals on the surface of bedrock where it outcrops. The challenge for me is that the rock is quite mossy around here and so visually locating these minerals is not always possible without taking the wire brush to the rock.

Not sure what to say about the moss other then rolling over boulders to see if you can spot the iron.